HAIR LOSS: Women are big losers too.

from Dr. Bosley

Demi Moore, Sinead O' Connor and Sigourney Weaver are all famous women who at one time or another elected to be bald. Most women who experience female pattern hair loss do not have the guts to thumb their nose at conventional beauty ideals. Studies have linked baldness in women to lowered self-esteem and self-consciousness, but despite that women have been reluctant to seek treatment. Although many balding men are distressed by their hair loss, they don't have to look far to find examples of bald men who are considered successful, youthful and handsome. Andre Agassi, Bruce Willis, Michael Jordan, Vin Diesel - the list goes on and suggests that baldness can be sexy in men. Balding women, however, are hard-pressed to find celebrity females as role models who are visibly losing hair.

"Society accepts a bald man," says Dr. Ken Washenik MD PhD who is the medical director of Bosley, which is the world's largest hair restoration company. "It's not a socially acceptable thing for a woman. So much emphasis and value is placed on a woman's head of hair; it's hard to even compare the impact on men versus women." People tend not to associate pattern baldness with women, but it is just as common in women as it is in men, though the timing and pattern of hair loss is different. 1 out of every 4 women in the United States will experience hereditary hair thinning and hair loss affects over 30 million women in the United States alone.

"While men tend to start losing hair in the 30s and 40s, thinning begins in the 40s or 50s in women, though it can occur as early as the 20s," says Dr. Washenik. And while men tend to lose hair in the front and at the top of the head, women's hair thins diffusely throughout the scalp. Total baldness is very rare in women. "It's crucial that any woman who notices hair loss visit a hair-loss professional in order to determine the reason for the loss," says Dr. Washenik. Following pattern baldness, telogen effluvium is the most common cause of hair loss in women. It is a temporary hair loss in which a higher than normal percentage of hair shifts into a shedding phase. Telogen effluvium can occur after pregnancy or when a woman goes on or off birth control pills, or it can follow an emotionally traumatizing event such as the loss of a loved one.

Studies have also linked crash dieting to temporary hair loss. Sometimes, hair loss is due to an underlying medical condition such as lupus, polycystic ovary syndrome, a thyroid problem, anemia or hormonal imbalances. Hair loss can also be a side effect of medication such as ibuprofen, antidepressants, hypertension drugs, anticoagulants and chemotherapy. Treating and diagnosing female hair loss is not as simple and straightforward as male pattern baldness. Many physicians subscribe to the theory that women should immediately begin a regimen of growth stimulants. "Like men's hair loss however, there are underlying causes, and the good news is that a large percent of women's hair loss is completely reversible. The general idea behind diagnosing and treating it involves a responsible informed physician and a series of tests to rule out, or rule in, the causes."

How can a woman tell if she's actually losing her hair, if it's so hard to detect?

It is said that women have to lose 50% of our hair in any given area before it starts to be noticeably thin. Many women notice it long before then. In fact, they say that everyone thinks they're crazy, but they're not. Their hair doesn't grow as well. It doesn't have the mass and bulk it used to, so women notice it long before people looking at them will notice it, and it's not an illusion. Dr. Washenik often sees a condition called alopecia areata. Areata is Latin for round or circumscribed, which means that people suddenly see bald spots here or there, or little, tiny short hairs that are broken off. Sometimes it's noticed by the person cutting their hair. It's often related to some stressful event, and it's believed to be some type of immunologic imbalance where the immune system goes after its own hair for some unknown reason and causes them to go into the resting phase and slow down their growth so they break off or come out. A lot of times it regrows by itself. In fact, probably most people who have it don't come to the doctor. It just goes away by itself.

Approximately 2 - 5% will benefit from surgical hair restoration. The women who are potential candidates for this method are: